After Effect
by ObsidianSilversmith
Summary: His eyes blinked in confusion. Where the Hell was he?
1. Chapter 1

_**~~ AFTER EFFECT ~~**_

Rating: T

Warning: OOC-ness and an OC or two on occasion.

Genre(s): angst, rebirth, tragedy

Summary: 680.) after the deaths of everyone he's ever loved, Ichigo forgets his own name and opts for another.

Character(s)/Pairing(s): Ichigo

Date Written: 21 February 2011

Date Published: 1 March 2011

Word Count: 385

Dedication: I don't know...it could be my worry over the Graduation Tests I have coming up in three weeks and the fear of forgetting everything I know.

AN:/: I can only dream...

Iced wind drove like hammered nails as the world watched it's once savior rampage. The greatest of all fell upon the city, wails shattered the bones of the damned souls who stood too close. Those who once worshiped the being as a god beyond them all were the first to fall beneath his feet. His eyes no longer held the kindness and wisdom they once did. The earthen orbs re-colored themselves bloody as the demon took full control. He no longer existed the way he once did. Instincts drove his every motion. Sadly those instincts screamed as he did for the blood of the innocents that called the newest Hell realm "home."

And so carmine filled the streets as the black of his aura filled the skies.

Flashes of orange were the only hints as to where the king would appear. Few made to fight, even fewer saw the beast ended their lives. The remaining captains, Those who knew of this demon-king's strength, mourned the loss of their strongest comrade. But they knew there could be not another option...

The weak began to pool their powers even as the roar of the beast caused the weakest to break. Seconds slowed and the world muted all just before the bullet pierced the animal between the eyes. The injuries would heal, his memories would remain lost...He fell from the sky, creating a vast crater where the city had been moments before he had lost everything from betrayal. Whoever triggered his breakdown surely died in the first seconds, but the survivors couldn't chance it. The fury of the Destroyer couldn't be unleashed. Ever again.

Perhaps it would be for the best. No one remembered the creature's name anyways, only that he'd once been the one to save them all.


	2. Chapter 2

~~ AFTER EFFECT ~~

Chapter: A New Name

Rating:

Warnings: OOC Ichigo and reincarnations

Genre(s): angst, humor, rebirth, adventure

Summary: One thousand years after the beast is contained, a weak soul releases him.

Date Written: 24 February 2011

Date Published:

Word Count:

Dedication: Byakuya, he's just that awesome.

Calm winds eased the toll of heat as the caged man tried to coax a kitten to drink. Nothing so far could force the life-saving liquid into the kitten's body. Every time his guards entered the holding area, he begged them to save the weakening animal, every time, he ignored him.

Today would be the third day since the kitten came to him. Today, his only friend in the world would wither, and cease to exist.

Tears burned at his eyes as the kitten mewled and mourned. Patches of orange and black fur came away close to the skin. How could those who called _him_ beast allow the weak to die like this? Enraged, he curled around the aching body, the only comfort he could give. A single tear fell from dull eyes. He'd had enough of this world anyways...

"Is he okay?"

"I don't care, he should've died."

He flinched. No matter how many times he heard them, those words seared deeply. Who had he been?

"Say that one more time." He jumped as the crash jarred his cage. The kitten mewled as he was forced to hold the kitten above his head to keep from crushing it.

Looking through the bars of his prison, the beast noted who had done what he could not. The newcomer wore his long hair about his shoulders. The loose garments that the other guards filled swallowed him in one dreary gulp. Everything save for face and hands remained invisible. Even part of his face was covered by the length of his hair.

The newcomer dropped his arm away from the man's throat with little thought when the kitten's breathing began to slow. The beast's and the newcomer's eyes met with brutal force. The clash of earth and sea fought over something, but neither knew what.

En the end, the newcomer's flat face twisted into the soft smile of someone the beast knew from a dream. A long and forgotten dream, yet it felt too real... "What is your name?"

The beast growled and held the kitten away.

"Fine then, I'll think of one for you." The newcomer's eyes lit and he opened his mouth to speak. "Come, Ichigo, I need to see the kitten to help it."

'Ichigo froze as the newcomer entered the cage with him. Could he trust him?

"I'm Byakuya." Then the newcomer disappeared, leaving the cage open and Ichigo confused. The name _felt_ familiar...


	3. Chapter 3

~~ AFTER EFFECT ~~

Chapter: 3 ~ Name Reawakened

Rating: T

Warnings: OC-ness and that sort of thing that I am known for.

Genre(s): Angst, friendship, hurt/comfort

Summary: Something inside of him awakens...

Date Written: 24 March 2011

Date Published: 26 March 2011

Word Count: 874

Dedication: Um...hope, because the world seems to have so little of it right now.

The demon sat silently in the cage as the night whispered into daylight. Every sound changes with the passage of time. When the moon is the highest is when the wails of hollows are the loudest. When the whisper of the birds waking breaths reaches his ears is what marks the dawning of a new day. The new day meant the return of the newcomer with a name he felt shouldn't be spoken. The dawning of this day meant hope...something he hadn't felt since the day he'd found himself locked inside this god-forsaken cage with no memories, only pain.

As the sun slowly climbed towards its pinnacle in the sky, the hope drained away and resent filled the void.

Glancing towards the still opened door, he could feel the need to get out there. Long silent cries of instinct now screamed as pressure threatened to crush him from all sides. Despite the pain, he still sat with his arms wrapped around his legs, matted hair falling into his eyes. What would be the use of escape? There could be no hope for him. He had forsaken the right to such privileges when he committed the acts for which he was placed in here. He'd forsaken the right to even a name.

A scream echoed painfully as the pressure increased. The monster's ears rang from it, but deep inside something began stirring.

_'Ichigo...'_

The monster stilled his breathing—the only motion he dared. Had the newcomer not called him that as well?

_'Ichigo! Wake up you damned fool! WAKE UP!'_

Nothing happened. The demon did nothing but listen. The voice resonated from deep within himself. Confusion ensued. Had he finally gone mad?

_'If you wish to save the only person in one-thousand years to show you kindness, I'm hidden underneath the tree just outside of this room. Call my name and I will answer.'_

Dazed, he stood. He knew vaguely what a tree looked like, but the name of the voice eluded him. Remembrance tickled the tongue, as if it was once a name he called out often, but it tasted coppery...it tasted like blood.

Shaking steps carried him to the gateway of his freedom. Once free from the tiny cage, he would be able to stand straight again. He'd be able to see things he hadn't. He'd be able to avenge the wrongs.

_**"**__**That's right poor little Ichi-Nii. Stay in the cage you've been locked in since the day of the new era. Stay here and let the true king remove his pawn."**_

The rasping laugh angered him into moving. His first step into the new world would be one of anger and revenge.

Though the bars of cage still let in the rays of light from the outside, the walls surrounding the cage in an enclosure of sorts, sapped him of something he couldn't quite place. It left him weakened, but not weak.

_'Ignore him, look to your right.'_

He did as he was told, but the glaring light nearly blinded him. 'Is there nothing to block the sun?'

The voice laughs gently. _'Patience.' _he laughed again. _'When your eyes adjust, look for a crack in the wall. That is when you'll figure out what to do.'_

He nodded, somehow feeling that the being would know that he had. When his sight cleared, the crack became visible. The shadowed—was it a courtyard or some sort of zoo?-area splayed one-hundred feet of flat, grassless dirt on everyside off the the square cage. The bared earth and high walls brought fascination to his mind as he wondered how could anything get in or out.

Shaking aside the awe of his own prison, he forced his steps to stay stable as he approached the—well, what some foreign sense told him it was—eastern wall. With every inch he came closer, his body seemed to remember what his mind could not. Every flawed imperfection in the stone seemed to radiate black and blue. As a single tip of his weak finger traced the stone with practiced ease, flashes of color came soaring to life.

He could see himself—no, surely not himself—laughing with someone whose face blurred with the surroundings. He couldn't see the scenery, or even details. Only he stood out. Only the sight of joy etched permanently into features that would surely shatter the very foundations of his face now.

Who had he once been? What could've been so atrocious an act that someone would imprison a person with such a happy expression plastered across his features? What could _he_ have done?

_**"Wouldn't you like to know."**_

___'Cease the infernal racket and let him work. Everything will be known in time.'_

His shoulders shiver, still unused to the arguing inside of his mind. For a moment he thought himself crazy, then something shattered. Anger flared to life inside a small place inside of his chest. The wall—SekiSeki rock came unabound into his mind—crumbled to dust beneath his feet as great waves of power exploded almost painfully from his core.

Yeah, Ichigo was his name. Too bad he couldn't remember his game.

Eh, that would come when the damned brat of a newcomer explained what the hell took him so long to get his kitten home.


End file.
